Highly regarded eccentric Dee meets (8)
I believe the answer is:
esteemed
'highly regarded' is the definition.
'eccentric dee meets' is the wordplay.
'eccentric' indicates anagramming the letters.
'dee'+'meets'='deemeets'
'deemeets' with letters rearranged gives 'ESTEEMED'.
(Other definitions for esteemed that I've seen before include "Held in high regard, as customer may be" , "Regarded with respect" , "Highly thought of, respected" , "Had great respect for" , "Venerable" .)